No argument from me about potential benefits of whole cluster pressing for whites and roses depending on your goals. On the other end of the spectrum I've seen commercial wineries leave their whites on the skins for up to 24 hours to increase phenol extraction and give the wine more body. But I think those are both pretty advanced techniques.
What type/ size of press are you using for whole cluster? Are you using rice hulls are something similar and do you think you get about the same yields you would otherwise?
I have a rather large press (hydrolic). It will hold about 1.5 tons at a time. I also could not agree with you more on goals. I guess that is what it is all about and why winemaking is such a great outlet for the creative.
In the past, I would crush my whites and then go to the press after about an hour or two. I found the resulting wine to be rather tanic and not really up to par with some of the great German, Italian, and Hungarian white wines that I grew up with. Advice and experience taught me that I needed to dispense with the cursher all together and go directly to the press with whole clusters of grapes if I wanted to achieve my goals. The crusher will grind up the grapes and increase tannin extraction. This is bad if your goal is a nice light, crisp white that is full of flavor. I further enhance the whites through MLF to soften the wine and make it buttery.
I do not use rice hulls or anthing else that might assist in providing channels for the juice while pressing. The operation is to load up the press, set the dial for just a few bars of pressure, then wait. Time to do some sippin and simply watch the press.
Every once in a while, I will open the press and give the grapes a gentle stir. I also do not press down to a "hard cake". Once a firm cake develops, the juice will be loaded with tannins that I prefer to avoid in my finished product.
Instead, I press to a "soft-cake" (soft-press) and have found that this has resulted in a wine that is more light, crisp, and flavorful. Compared to crushed/hard-pressed whites that I made in my earlier years, I have found soft-press whites are hands-down far surperior to suit my tastes.
Obviously, the yeild from soft-pressed is less then crushed/hard-pressed. I think that the loss is well worth the gain. If yeild is a concern, then I would suggest that you ferment any juice you get beyond the soft-press stage separately. This way, you lose nothing and can also blend the hard press and soft press together if you want a more pronounced tanic structure. I would recommend to everone to try this experiment least once.